Dumb Ways to Die
Dumb Ways to Die is an Australian public service announcement campaign by Metro Trains in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, to promote rail safety. The campaign video went viral through sharing and social media starting in November 2012. Campaign The campaign was devised by advertising agency McCann Melbourne. It appeared in newspapers, local radio, outdoor advertising, throughout the Metro Trains network and on Tumblr. John Mescall, executive creative director of McCann, said “The aim of this campaign is to engage an audience that really doesn't want to hear any kind of safety message, and we think Dumb Ways To Die will.” McCann estimated that within two weeks, it had generated at least $50 million worth of global media value in addition to more than 700 media stories, for "a fraction of the cost of one TV ad". According to Metro Trains, the campaign contributed to a more than 30% reduction in "near-miss" accidents, from 13.29 near-misses per million kilometres in November 2011 – January 2012, to 9.17 near-misses per million kilometres in November 2012 – January 2013. Video A video was developed by Pat Baron, animated by Julian Frost, and produced by Cinnamon Darvall. It was uploaded to YouTube on 14 November 2012 and made public two days later. It featured "twenty-one characters killing themselves in increasingly stupid ways" culminating in the last three characters being killed by trains due to unsafe behavior. It was viewed 2.5 million times within 48 hours and 4.7 million times within 72 hours. Within two weeks, the video had been viewed 30 million times. As of March 2015, the video received over 100 million views. McCann released an "Official Karaoke Edition" of the video on 26 November 2012. Song The song "Dumb Ways to Die" from the video was written by John Mescall with music by Ollie McGill from The Cat Empire, who also produced it.9 It was performed by Emily Lubitz, the lead vocalist of Tinpan Orange, with McGill providing backing vocals.It was released on iTunes, attributed to the artist "Tangerine Kitty" (a reference to Tinpan Orange and The Cat Empire). Game In May 2013, Metro released a "Dumb Ways to Die" game as an app for iOS devices. The game, developed by Julian Frost and Samuel Baird, invites players to avoid the dangerous activities engaged in by the various characters featured throughout the campaign. Within the app, players can also pledge to “not do dumb stuff around trains.” The activities include things like getting toast out with a fork and poking a stick at a grizzly bear. An Android version was also eventually released in September 2013. The aim of the game is to earn as many points as possible by avoiding "dying" in one of the activities. Lives can be lost by "dying" in one of the activities. The player has three chances to prevent the characters from dying. The Sugar Rush version was made in April 2015 at Facebook https://www.facebook.com/100009366678464/videos/1404461079876101/?pnref=story. In this game, there are 21 minigames. Like the original game, the game's characters do plenty of dangerous and unsafe activities. Lives can be lost by "dying" in one of the activities. The player has three chances to prevent the characters from dying. Also, their music videos' music and actions are exactly same except on the characters' actions on the chorus. A sequel was made in November 2014. In the sequel, there are a lot more varieties of challenges in each particular building, and each building has a particular theme. Before a train arrives at a building, the player plays a challenge to counter something related to trains. If successful, bonus points can be earned at the end of the game. There are 8 challenges each in every building. Like the original game, the game's characters do plenty of dangerous and unsafe activities. Lives can be lost by "dying" in one of the activities. The player has three chances to prevent the characters from dying. Parodies Within two weeks, the video had spawned over 85 parodies. Some renditions and parodies have been featured in national and international media: *"Cool Things to Find" - featuring the Curiosity Mars rover. Cinesaurus noted that it took them six days and 250 man hours to create. *"Dumb Movie Ways to Die" - from The Movie Maniacs parodies well known "dumb" movie deaths from famous films. *"Dumb Ways to Die (In Video Games) Parody" *"Dumb Ways to Die (Minecraft Edition)" *"Grand Theft Auto V: Dumb Ways To Die" *"Dumb Ways to Die - Miami/ESPM" by Miami Ad School in Sao Paulo, Brazil. *"Annoying Ways to Die" from Annoying Orange, as noted by Socialtimes *"The Walking Dead + Dumb Ways to Die Parody" - live-action parody of characters from The Walking Dead *"Smart Ways to Live" by The Maccabeats - a cappella version as noted by Arutz Sheva. *Sugar Rush Dumb ways to die - a similar version to the original music video. Category:Gore